Politics

Democrats Make Millions More Off Federal Unions, Bureaucrats Than Republicans

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Ethan Barton Editor in Chief
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Federal civil servants and government employee unions donated far more money to Democrats seeking public office than Republicans in 2016, campaign contribution records show.

More than 82 percent of $4.3 million in donations from nine major federal unions went to Democrats, Center for Responsive Politics data shows, FedSmith.com reported Wednesday. Likewise, Democrats raked in 82 percent of $6.6 million in donations from employees of 11 federal agencies and Senate and House of Representatives staff. (RELATED: IRS Employees Fuel Democratic Candidates, Causes)

The American Federation of Government Employees — the biggest of the major civil service work unions — gave Democrats the largest amount, with nearly 1.8 million, representing almost 92 percent of their contributions. The National Treasury Employees Union gave Democrats the largest share with nearly 96 percent of its donations.

Another two federal employee unions – the National Association of Postal Supervisors and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union – also sent around 93 percent of their political donations to Democrats.

Just one sampled union – the Federal Aviation Administration Managers Association – donated a majority of its political contributions to Republicans, sending nearly 73 percent of its $284,500 in donations to GOP candidates and committees.

A majority of employee donors from each of the sampled agencies and congressional staff contributed to Democrats. Department of Defense officials donated the most to Republicans, but it came out to less than a third of the total contributions. (RELATED: EPA Employees Load Obama, Dems With Dough)

Conversely, nearly 99 percent of donating Department of Labor officials contributed to Democrats. More than 90 percent of employee donations from the departments of State, Health and Human Services, Justice, Energy and Education went to Democrats.

Granted, “[r]elatively few federal employees make donations to political campaigns,” FedSmith.com reported, citing that most officials responding in surveys claim to be politically independent.

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